First Assistant, First Suspect
by future tkd blackbelt
Summary: An AD for an upcoming film is sent to shadow our favorite CSIs for 2 weeks.Grissom hates the idea and doesn't like her,the other CSIs accept her immediatly.When Grissom finally starts to warm up to her and she becomes the suspect of a serial murderer.
1. Rough First Night

Authors Note: Hey ya'll, thanks for being interested enough to at least take a look at my story! This is my very first CSI story. I watched most of the episodes over Christmas vacation, so I think I have a pretty good idea of how the characters act and everything…hopefully. 

Setting: After Season 2, before Season 3. (Only because I've seen all of one and two, and only part of three, and none of the others.)

* * *

A heated argument greeted Las Vegas Crime Scene Investigator's Nick Stokes and Warrick Brown as they slipped through their night supervisor's closed door. They were a little taken aback at Gil Grissom's harsh tone that he used as he spoke to the other person on the phone. They couldn't really understand much of what was being said, only hearing one side of the conversation, but they could easily tell that Grissom wasn't amused in the least.

"I _told_ you, it's _not_ a place for civilians. We're dealing with people's lives here. We can't have some naïve person following us around, destroying our crime scenes. My agents know how to tread on a scene; she would destroy countless items of evidence tromping after them." He paused and listened to what was being said on the other end for a moment. While he listened he motioned for Nick and Warrick to have a seat in the two chairs that were in front of his desk. His eyes narrowed as he listened to what the other person said. "She'll get in the way; this is a job for trained professionals!" He paused again, and his mouth opened to an 'o', before he snapped back, "You can't go over my head, I'm the night supervisor. If you wanted her on my shift, why would you even try to go over my head to my supervisor? That's not exactly the best way to make points with someone, you know." His eyes went wide as what he heard surprised him a little. "Excuse me, but are you trying to bribe me into letting a civilian in on my ranks?" He sighed, and shook his head, resting his head in his free hand that wasn't holding the phone. "Fine, whatever. Agreed. The money is for equipment purposes. But know this: she is to _observe_ period. Understood?" Grissom nodded at the phone. "Good." And he hung up the phone with a loud bang. He glared at the phone for a moment before looking up at Nick and Warrick.

"What was that all about?" Nick asked; he chuckled a little. It wasn't everyday that Grissom showed that he was frustrated. He glanced down at his watch, "January 4th, marking the calendar."

Grissom shook his head at Nick and looked toward Warrick. "Some big wig Hollywood producer wants to send some green Assistant Director here to observe us for two weeks to do research for a movie they're making to be released in a year and a half."

Warrick raised an eyebrow up at Grissom, and cocked his head to the side in a way that all of the CSI's had a way of doing when digging for information. "And you agreed?"

"Well not at first." Grissom mused. He rolled his eyes, and looked toward Nick. "First he threatened to go over my head, and when I convinced him that that wouldn't work, he decided to go the American way and bribe me." He smiled a big smugly, looking back toward Warrick. "He offered to pay almost anything, and even suggested ten grand for grant money."

"He offered to pay almost anything," Nick said, getting Grissom's attention again. "And you only agreed on ten grand?! It sounds like he really wants this assistant to come here, you shouldn't have settled for less then fifty!" He grinned at Grissom. "I wouldn't have."

Grissom shook his head at Nick, and looked between the two of them. "I still didn't want to do it at first…but then you know what occurred to me?" He trailed off and smiled at them. They knew this smile very well. This was Grissom's "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it…and it might as well be you." smile.

Warrick and Nick knew their supervisor well enough to read his smile easily. Grissom had many different smiles, as most people do. And this is one that they had seen more often then they could count. The two of them glanced at each other, and then turned toward Grissom. "Us?" They both asked together.

Grissom's grin only got bigger.

One Week Later

Megan sighed to herself as she stared up at the building that she'd come to know well in the next two weeks. Inside was the Las Vegas Crime Lab. A place where the guy she was supposed to be shadowing didn't want her anywhere near him, because he was afraid that she'd contaminate his precious crime scene. She had just driven from LA…a 4 ½ hour drive, and she had dreaded her destination the entire time. Mac, the producer that had gotten her this gig, had explained all the circumstances to her a few days ago, and what she was supposed to do. Mac had also told her about the night supervisor (Grissom?) and his reservations about letting her come onboard. If this wasn't the best, closest crime lab in the country, he would have sent her somewhere else. Mac was also reluctant to send her off by herself, into such unknown territory; a small town girl like herself. But after the argument that Grissom gave him about her observing it probably would have cost another ten grand to send another crew member…and that was just out of the question.

He said that it was all in the hands of the assistant director now…which was her…not a great thought right now. She took a deep breath, and held it for a second. She would make the best of whatever happened. She'd make friends with this Grissom guy, and all would be right with the world. Everything would work out for the best.

A quick glance down at her watch revealed that it was 7:50. She was early. Her appointment with Grissom wasn't until 8:00…hopefully showing up early would make a good impression with him. She was really nervous about meeting him. Megan took a deep breath, stiffened her spine, and walked through the front doors. She had been given directions to find Grissom's office, and she hazily brought them to mind as she walked forward. Everything was different in your mind's eye then when you actually see the real thing. Megan was concentrating so hard on where she was going that she completely missed the receptionist's desk in front.

"Excuse me?" The receptionist called out to Megan's back. "Excuse me!" She yelled loudly, half standing up to get her point across, and getting Megan's attention. Megan turned half around with a 'who? Me?' expression as she pointed to herself. "Can I help you?"

Megan turned the rest of the way around, and shuffled back the few steps giving the receptionist a friendly smile, taken aback by the unnerving stare of the receptionist. "Hey." Megan said a bit nervously, she bit her lip slightly. "I…um…have an appointment with Gil Grissom at 8." She pointed over her shoulder. "It's that way, right?"

"Do you have a pass?" The receptionist asked haughtily, ignoring Megan's question.

"Um…no." Megan replied nervously, fiddling with her hands as she talked. "They never told me that I needed one…all they said was to go to the night supervisor's office…Gil Grissom's…at 8." She shrugged. "My producer set it up."

The receptionist leaned forward and looked at Megan over her black rimmed glasses. "So you're the film director."

Megan shrugged. "Assistant director actually." She smiled a bit nervously, hoping that maybe that would ease her passing to get into the lab. Standing there talking was cutting away precious minutes of her finding Grissom's office, and arriving there early.

The receptionist leaned back into her chair again, as if almost relishing her power that she now held. "Nobody gets into the lab without a pass." She snapped. "No pass no appointment. This isn't Hollywood where we let celebrities do just whatever they want to do. We do things by the book here."

"I'm just an assistant director, ma'am, no celebrity." Megan replied, not sure what she should do to pacify the woman. She glanced down at her watch anxiously. "How long do you think this will take?" The receptionist just shrugged and beckoned her forward with one finger. Sighing to herself, Megan slowly went forward.

20 Minutes Later…

Megan hurriedly attached her VISITOR'S badge to her t-shirt, and scrambled in through the lab's doors, anxious to not only get to Grissom's office as quickly as she could…but also to get out of that unnerving receptionist's presence. She was fifteen minutes late as it was…she was obviously not going to make a great first impression with Grissom.

Once she actually got into the lab, her mind went completely blank…which direction was she supposed to go to get to his office? She couldn't remember to save her life if she should go left, right or straight. Everything looked the same to her! She should have just written the directions down in the first place, her memory was always doing this to her! She was close to panicking, because she couldn't remember which way. She shrugged to herself and started walking straight, hoping that by the grace of God she'd be heading in the right direction. She started examining every sign on the wall, hoping they would give her some clue as to where Grissom's office was supposed to be.

Megan was craning her neck around to look behind her at a sign that she had missed when she felt like she ran into a brick wall…only brick walls usually don't move backward when you bump into them. This brick wall was human. Whoever it was instantly put his arms on her arms to steady her into not falling. "Are you alright?" The man asked with a slight Texan drawl.

Megan turned and looked up, and was mesmerized by his eyes. They were so dark and mysterious. He had to clear his throat slightly before she even remembered that he had asked a question. "Sorry!" She replied quickly, and indicated her bumping into him. "And yes, thanks for catching me." She smiled up at him, and belatedly realized that his hand lingered on her elbow, longer then it took to steady her from falling. She didn't notice; because she was too busy staring at his name badge. Nick Stokes. CSI. She wondered if she'd be working alongside him anytime in the next two weeks.

"Anytime." Nick replied, taking a step backward so that he could look at her easier without looking straight down, and without her craning her neck upward. She was tall, but he was much taller. He cocked his head to the side. A trait she would come to know well amongst all of the CSI agents. "You look a little lost." He said with a helpful smile…at least Megan interoperated it as helpful…or adorable would work as well. "Is there anyway I can help you out?"

Megan sighed in relief. Angels sure had some beautiful faces in Las Vegas. "You're my savior." She said with a huge smile, still biting her lip a bit nervously. "I'm looking for Mr. Grissom's office…I was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago…and I am_ so_ lost. I can't remember any directions that Mac gave me, and this place is like a maze!"

Nick looked at her as if a light bulb had suddenly lit up in his head. "Hey, are you Megan Athol? The film director?" He asked, and grinned broadly, as if he was_ so_ delighted to be the first person to meet her.

Megan smiled and shrugged a bit. "Assistant, yeah that's me."

Nick's smile couldn't have gotten bigger. He extended his hand toward her. "I'm Nick Stokes, CSI." They shake hands…and once again Megan wondered if she was imagining his hand lingering longer then a normal handshake would be with her hand. "We'll be working _very_ closely together for the next two weeks." He winked and smiled his 'crest white' smile at her. "Come on, I'll show you to Grissom's."

"Thank you _so_ much!" Megan said gratefully as they walked together, Nick expertly maneuvering around the hurrying scientists in ankle-length lab coats, and steering her around them as well, since they were so into their own work they didn't seem to notice anyone else in the hall. Nick kept his hand on the small of her back as he steered her around, but Megan didn't mind in the least. She felt very safe and secure walking next to him, as if the world couldn't touch her because he would be there to protect her. It sounded stupid, but when you have to step out of your comfort zone into unknown territory you will cling to whoever comes along that makes you feel like yourself, and not so afraid of what you're getting into. He fears about meeting Grissom went on a back burner as they walked together. Nick pointed things out to her as they walked. Things like the interrogation room, the lab & lab tech (to which Megan only saw a guy in a lab coat jamming to rock music) and so forth. It turned out that she had taken many wrong turns in her endeavors to get to Grissom's office, because they passed the hall that led the way out by the receptionist's office.

"So have you been in the film business long?" Nick asked conversationally as he steered her down the last hall to Grissom's office.

Grissom's office loomed darkly in front of them as they walked closer. You know how in movies when something scary happens, the screen seems to zoom in and zoom out at the exact same time? That's how Grissom's office appeared to Megan as they got closer. She had to tell herself not to drag her feet as they got closer. "A few years." She replied distractedly, her fears rushed back to her as she saw the figure of a man sitting in the dark room at his desk. It wasn't too late to turn around, maybe she could just slip away…they'd never know. But Nick's comforting hand on her back stopped her, not physically, just mentally. She concentrated on his strength to give her the strength to face this over-whelming figure she was to meet. Her heart was beating so hard, she could have sworn that it would leap out of her chest and dance a jig on the floor.

Nick smiled at her as they reached Grissom's office. He removed his strong hand from her back, and moved to walk in front of her to step ahead as they reached his office. The door was open, but Grissom was obviously deep into his paperwork, because he didn't even notice them standing there at his door. Nick smiled comfortingly at Megan and knocked loudly on Grissom's door. Grissom jumped slightly, obviously having _really_ been into his paperwork. He looked up at the door, to see Nick and Megan standing there, glanced down at his watch on his wrist, and then motioned for them to come in.

"Hey Grissom." Nick said, leading the way in, not noticing that Megan was doing her best to stand directly behind him to try and not so subtlety hide from Grissom's all-knowing gaze. "Your 8 o'clock is here." He said cheerfully and glanced to his left where Megan and been standing, but wasn't any longer. "…somewhere." Grissom cocked his head to the side and did his little squint as he waited for Megan to introduce herself. Nick glanced over his shoulder to see Megan standing behind him, obviously very freaked out. "There you are." He gave her a reassuring smile, and put a comforting hand on Megan's shoulder and brought her around to stand in front of him, leaving his right hand on her right shoulder. "Grissom, Megan Athol. Megan, Gil Grissom."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Megan said cautiously, biting her lip nervously, and winding her fingers in the fabric of the hem of her shirt. He was so unnerving! He just stared at her. He didn't look from Nick to her, or turn his gaze anywhere else; he just sat there looking at her. Was she supposed to do something? Was she supposed to say something? He was already supposed to have gotten the check for her being there…so what was he waiting for?! The only movement that she had seen him make was to glance up as they first entered, and that was out of the corner of her eye, because she had quickly ducked behind Nick.

"Take a seat, Megan." Grissom finally spoke, his voice was quiet and yet filled with such depth. It wasn't a menacing sound…and yet it was still so very much full of authority. Megan nodded at him and slowly stepped forward to comply, leaving the safety of Nick's close proximity. She wouldn't look Grissom in the eye, she just stared at the edge of his desk, still biting her lip, and winding her fingers into the fabric of her shirt. "Thank you, Nick." Grissom said, and nodded at the still standing CSI. "I'll see you in ten minutes for assignments." Nick nodded at Grissom, recognizing his cue to leave. He glanced down at Megan's still form, her stiff posture, and her nervous tells; his heart went out to her. He slowly and silently slipped out of the room, and closed the door behind him.

When the door closed behind Nick, the final 'click' seemed so loud and final to Megan. That meant she was actually alone with this guy. Although he didn't seem mad…he seemed liked one of those guys who kept his emotions to himself, so who knew what he was going to say to her now? She felt very alone sitting across from him, refusing to meet his gaze. She was truly afraid of Grissom. She'd heard a lot about him, seen him a TV a couple of times, and she'd heard Mac's rendition of his attitude toward her being allowed to shadow him for two weeks. She was afraid that her just being there (never mind her being late) would make him angry…and judging from his extended silence…he already was.

After another minute, Megan couldn't take any more and she glanced up from her hands to his face…and she remembered it being a very big mistake. She only wanted to look him in the eyes for a second, but as soon as he caught her gaze, he seemed to reach out and grab it, not allowing her to look away. And since she hadn't looked him in the eye when she first entered, she hadn't seen that he was very disgruntled with her for being late (she'd assumed he was, but she hadn't known for sure)…but looking into his eyes now, she could tell that he was. She would have preferred his silence compared to the speech that it looked as if he was about to give her. So she was very surprised when all he said was…

"You're late."

"I'm really sorry about that!" Megan started babbling. "I meant to come here early but—

"Your appointment was clearly at 8:00 sharp." He said, his quiet voice interrupting her. He still looked her straight in the eye, and then made a show of glancing down to the watch around his wrist. Her gaze involuntarily followed his. "It's now 8:20." He looked back up into her eyes, her eyes meeting his involuntarily again; she couldn't seem to look away. His gaze held her's like a snare. Grissom cocked his head to the side. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Megan blinked, and the spell was broken and she was able to look away from his intense gaze. Once she was free of that, she swallowed nervously, and stared at a pen on his desk, as if she was having the conversation with the pen, and the pen was talking back to her. She started babbling again, and could barely understand the words that that came out of her mouth as she said them…but the sound of her own voice was more comforting then the silence, so she kept going. "It's a long story Mr. Grissom. You see I didn't know that a Visitor's badge was required to enter the lab, or that it required a photo ID since it's an extended badge for the two weeks that I'm going to be here. Nobody told me that before I got here, so while I was here early to come and meet with you right away at 8…I had to stop and get that—

"Megan?" Grissom's quiet voice interrupted her nervous babble. She stopped talking, and glanced up at him briefly before looking down at her conversational pen on his desk. "I'd appreciate it if you'd look me in the eyes when you talk to me."

Megan swallowed nervously and nodded at the pen. He was unnerving but this was just something that she was going to have to deal with…as much as he hated her, a job was a job. After she gathered all of her wits she breathed in and dragged her eyes up to meet his intense gaze. "Sorry. Um…anyway, it took longer then expected. That's why I'm late…sorry." She almost forgot to exhale.

Grissom nodded, not revealing what he was thinking as usual. He really didn't want her here, but he had been paid, and she was obviously easily made nervous. He supposed he should at least do something to make her feel a little bit more at ease. "I trust that this won't be a problem in the future."

Megan shook her head, amazingly keeping eye contact with his intense look. "No, sir."

"Good." Grissom replied, and gave her a half smile. Megan wasn't sure how to interpret that smile; was he patronizing her, or trying to be friendly? Her gaze shifted down to his hands as he shuffled a few papers on his desk. He picked them up and held them out to her for a few seconds until she slowly reached up and grabbed them from his hand. "If you are to observe us for two weeks, you'll need to fill out these papers." Megan glanced down at them as he talked and she leafed through a couple of the pages, catching words here and there. "Pretty standard stuff, really." Grissom said, catching her attention again. "Accidental death policy and the like." Megan stared at him unblinkingly for a second…he had to be joking…right? Grissom just stared right back at her and shrugged. "We need to have all our basis covered." He clicked a pen and handed it to her. "Fill out these forms, and then we can get started. My evening shift should be here in a few minutes, and you can meet those that you'll be observing. I see that you've already met Nick."

Megan nodded at him, and looked a little relieved. He looked back down at a case file that was on his desk. It sounded and looked as if he wanted her to go elsewhere to fill out these forms…she could get out of his unnerving presence for a few minutes! Didn't Nick mention something about a break room when he gave her an unofficial tour earlier? She could easily fill out the forms there, in the comfort of her own presence. Megan slowly stood up, not wanting to engage his attention from his case he was looking over. She had even taken a couple of steps toward the door, when Grissom's voice stopped her.

"Where are you headed, Megan?" In his usual quiet voice. So quiet, yet so authoritative at the same time. She wondered if he had any kids, she could about imagine that they didn't get away with anything when he was home, if he had any.

Megan slowly turned in her tracks and looked at him. She nervously pointed toward the door. "Um…to the break room, to fill these out?" She asked, unintentionally using upward intonation at the end of her sentence, making it sound as if she was asking a question in her statement.

Grissom, who notices everything, noticed that. He tilted his head to the side and looked at her. "Was that a question?" He asked.

"Uh…no, sir." Megan replied, not quite sure how to continue. "She made a sweeping motion of her hand around his desk. "On my way toward your office Nick showed an employee break room that had table and chairs available." She squirmed under his gaze. "I thought I could go there to fill these out, since there isn't that much room in here."

Grissom motioned toward his desk, and the chair that she had just occupied. "We can make room." He scooted his chair over to the left a bit, and cleared of his papers to the right. He smiled at her, and pointed toward the now empty spot on the right of his desk, right next to him and his chair. "See? Room." He patted the empty desktop invitingly, then turned and continued looking over his case file, seeming to ignore her, but actually observing her in his own quiet way, without her knowing it.

Megan wondered if he got some sort of weird thrill watching her squirm. _I can do this_ she thought to herself. _Mind over matter_. She nodded at his turned head, and moved the chair she had just been sitting in, to his side of the desk to fill out her papers. She made sure not to move it too close to him, and (as she was right handed) put up her left hand next to her face to give her a tiny shield while she filled out the papers.

The paperwork was really easy stuff. It reminded her of the endless forms that she had to fill out when she entered college. Name, address, phone number, social security number (probably so they could get a tax break some how), and so forth. She filled them out rapidly, trying to keep her penmanship easily legible. She was trucking right along when she came across a question that made her glance over at Grissom as he flipped a page in the case he was reading. He glanced at her and went back to his reading. She squinted at the question, making sure that she read it right, "Who to contact in event of fatal injury sustained while on the job". What was she getting herself into? She sighed slightly to herself, reminding herself that it was all about the movie. Then she paused, trying to remember he roommate's cell phone number. She knew it started with 690…but for the life of her she couldn't remember the last 4 digits…which were kind of vital. She tapped her pen on the sheet of paper for a moment trying to think. She let her gaze wander up toward the edge of the desk and she came face to face with a jar that had a massive cockroach…and it was looking at her.

Megan screeched (not noticing that Grissom about jumped out of his chair at her sudden outburst) and she backed up as quickly as possible. She flew backward in her chair, knocking it over, and tumbling toward Grissom's chair as she did. She didn't notice his outstretched hand to help her up; she just crawled away from the huge cockroach that was now skittering every which way in the jar. She had a massive fear of bugs…she wasn't quite sure why, she'd never been seriously bitten by one…but they just freaked her out in general. She liked to call her fear "bug-o-phobia".

When Megan could feel the solid wall behind her, she used one of the shelves to help her steady herself into standing. It was sad really, but her legs were actually shaking from seeing that cockroach in the jar. Coming from South Dakota they didn't have to deal with cockroaches. Mosquitoes the size of birds maybe…but not cockroaches. Megan glanced toward the shelf that was helping her steady herself, and about had an accident on Grissom's floor when she saw various other insects on display in various forms surrounding his shelves. Was this guy crazy?! She wondered to herself as she quickly backed away from that shelf as fast as she could. She smacked into Grissom's chest (as he had stood up to see what she was freaking out about) and he put out his hands to catch her, and possibly try to calm her down before the whole lab was in his office wondering if he was attempting to murder their new observer.

"You're frightening my cockroach." Grissom said softly, and nodded toward the insect in the jar that was still skittering around in circles as fast as it's little legs would go. Megan barely followed his glance toward the jar, and then she struggled and practically clawed her way out of Grissom's "embrace" until she was far on the other side of his office toward the far wall. She quickly glanced toward it to make sure that there was nothing creepy crawly behind her, and slowly leaned against it, exhaling softly. She willed her heart to slow it's fast beating. Boy was she going to have nightmares tonight. How she had failed to notice all of these little "quirks" in his office when she first entered was beyond her…maybe it was because he was just so unnerving! She stood there for a moment trying to steady her breathing.

"Did I fail to mention that I'm an entomologist?" Grissom asked with a slight smirk.

Megan forgot her fear of him for a moment, and swept her hand across the expanse of his desk and walls. "Yeah, and your office is infested."

Grissom cocked his head to the side (something that was already starting to annoy her) and just looked at her. "Do you suppose that if we were the size of cockroaches, and cockroaches were the size of us…that they'd be frightened of all the little two-legged critters running around?"

Megan just stared at him…he was really out there. Grissom just stared right back at her. There was a moment of silence when a slight knock came from the door, and three people filtered in. They looked from Grissom, standing behind his desk, to his over-turned chair, and finally to Megan, still pressed up against the far wall.

A woman with shoulder length strawberry blonde hair came up to Megan first, extending her hand. She wore a welcoming smile on her face, and Megan liked her right away. "Catherine Willows." She said as she shook Megan's hand. She smiled and glanced over at Grissom before looking back to Megan. "Let me guess…Grissom showed you his hobby of cockroach racing, and things got a little out of hand?"

"Megan Athol." Megan replied, and gave Catherine an astonished look. "He _races_ cockroaches?!" Her head whipped over to Grissom who just shrugged slightly before he bent to straighten the chair. Man did this guy have issues. Movement to Megan's right brought her eyes back that way, and a very cute African-American man came up to her next, hand extended. Her gaze went from his extended hand allllll the way up to his eyes. He was really tall, especially standing just a foot away from her. These guys really didn't seem to have issues with personal space.

"Warrick Brown." He said with a half smile. "And if you want to get it spelled right in the credits of your movie…you can always have Sandra Bullock give me a call to confirm. I'll give you my personal home phone number." He gave her a slight wink as she shook his hand, and stepped aside. She smiled up at him; she knew that she'd enjoy his sense of humor for the next two weeks.

"If Sandra's gonna be callin' anyone," The only familiar voice said next as Nick stepped up toward Megan. "It'll be me." Nick nodded triumphantly at Warrick. "Ya see, Megan and I? We go way back."

Megan smiled at Nick and glanced over at Warrick with a nod and a smile. "Oh yeah…at least ten minutes!"

Nick laughed and clapped Megan on the shoulder with his hand and moved to stand next to her on her right. He turned and whispered. "This is where we meet before we get our assignments on where we're going to go for the evening, and a description of the case." He nodded toward where Grissom was holding a couple sheets of paper. "He's holding the crime scene cases in his hands now."

"Nick," Grissom said, gaining the distracted CSI's attention. "Megan is here to observe. She'll be able to figure out what's going on perfectly fine on her own."

"Sorry." Nick said, but he didn't look to be put out by his reprimand by his supervisor. He heard Megan sigh to herself to his left and he turned slightly to wink at her, obviously used to Grissom's behavior.

"Alright people, we have a busy night ahead of us." Grissom said. "As you all can see, we will have an observer with us for the next two weeks for a film being made in the future. She is to be treated as a civilian only."

He continued talking, but Megan fazed him out. It was obvious that he didn't like her, but did he have to make it so blandly obvious every time he spoke or looked her? This was going to be a very long two weeks. She heard Grissom droning on in the background, but she didn't stop to try and comprehend what he was going on about. Her gaze wandered to the certificates that covered his walls, and wondered where he had gotten them all. He was obviously good at his job…that much was obvious. He also noticed everything and seemed to file it away into his brain for further use later on. With just the fifteen minutes she'd been with him she felt like he knew her whole life story just by looking at her…his brain must be loaded with useless information about tons of people from all of the cases he had worked on over the years. Megan's thoughts were interrupted when Nick elbowed her in the ribs and cleared his throat a bit loudly. She was abruptly brought back to the present, her heart beating hard in her chest when she realized that everyone was staring at her.

"Excuse me?" Grissom asked, tapping the papers against his palm slightly as he talked. "Megan? Are we boring you?"

Megan could have sworn that she broke out in a cold sweat just then. You'd think that she'd be used to his intense stare by now, since that's all he seemed to do when he looked at her…but she wasn't. "I'm sorry." She offered a bit lamely, wondering if she even tried to make up an excuse he'd listen to it.

Grissom did a half nod at her apology, seeming to accept it (which confused her), before he looked back at his agents. "As I was saying: Catherine, you have a fire damage at a residential. Brass thinks that arson is strongly suspected." He handed her the top sheet of paper, which she took and immediately started to look at. "Sara will meet you there. She had car trouble today, which is why she's late." He turned his gaze toward Nick and Warrick, passing over Megan where it seemed to linger for a moment. "Warrick, Nick, you two will accompany me for a triple homicide, possibly gang related."

Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Wait a sec, they get a triple and I'm stuck with arson? How'd that work out?"

Grissom back toward Catherine, and shrugged. "It's just how the cards played out." He handed Nick and Warrick the piece of paper with the case on it. Warrick took the sheet and scanned it quickly; Nick leaned over his shoulder reading it as well. Megan stared at Nick's elbow. "We leave in five." Grissom said, gaining everyone's attention.

Everyone started to disperse and do a few last minute things they wouldn't be able to get done at the end of the night. Catherine went to give her daughter a quick call. Warrick went to grab a quick cup of coffee to give his system a jolt of caffeine. Nick also followed Warrick so he could grab a quick bite to eat, knowing he probably wouldn't get one later. Their minds were already set to the cases they were about to start. Megan took this as her cue to be able to slip out of Grissom's office unnoticed with the rest of the group. He never told her where she'd be going; maybe she'd luck out and get the arson case with Catherine and the other CSI…Sara? She felt comfortable with these guys; they acted as if they at least wanted her to be there…Grissom obviously wanted nothing to do with her.

Just as she was about to slip through the door, hiding between Nick and Warrick, Grissom stopped her with just a single word…as he was prone to do. "Megan?" He asked in his quiet voice. She stopped in her tracks, causing Warrick to propel her into Nick. They all mumbled their apologies, and Warrick slipped around her giving her a sympathetic smile, while Megan meekly slipped back into Grissom's office. "Don't you have some paperwork to do?"

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Well, that be all for chapter one. I tried to make it long to grab attention, what did ya guys think? Don't worry Grissom will warm up to her later in the story…but right now it's a lot of fun having him antagonize her! I mean he seriously wouldn't want some random person tromping around after them destroying his evidence…right So I think his anger is rightly placed.

Review if you see fit, but please no flames. If you don't like the story, then don't read it…but please don't flame it


	2. Contaminated

Chapter 2

For RK9, thanks for reviewing dude. You totally rock!! You made my day! I was grinning ear to ear after your rave review! D

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Megan stared out her side of the window as the Tahoe that Grissom was driving sped through the Las Vegas streets…as much as he could with the constant traffic and red lights anyway. Nick sat directly in front of her in the passenger's seat, while Warrick sat off to her left. The vehicle was quiet as nobody was really sure what to talk about. Grissom was his usual quiet self, while Nick and Warrick wanted to talk to Megan, but they just weren't quite sure what they should say. Megan wondered if normally they would talk about their current case on the way there, but they weren't now because she was there and they felt a little awkward. She knew that she felt more then a little awkward sitting there right now. She glanced down at her the notebook in her hands, and reread a few notes that she had jotted down about the investigators, and how they started a case. She had retrieved it from her car before they had taken off toward the crime scene, so that she could write notes for her producer, so he could see that she was actually _trying_ to do her job here, no matter how much resistance Grissom seemed to think was necessary.

They were late heading to the scene, because some of the paperwork that Megan had to fill out took longer then she expected it to. She just couldn't remember some of the tiny little bits of information that Grissom declared pertinent that she fill out. And she could have sworn that that creepy cockroach was staring at her the entire time, as if slowly deciding its revenge against her for earlier. It also didn't help that Grissom stood practically right behind her, and seemed to hover over her shoulder as she wrote. She didn't think she was imaging it…he was directly behind her. He had his back to her back as he passed the time and examined the contents on his shelves…but just him standing that close where she couldn't see him made her nervous. And this made her constantly mess up in her writing; because she couldn't get the letters she wanted to look right. She couldn't stand it when anyone watched her write or type. It was one of her pet peeves. She seriously thought that this guy had it in for her; like he declared it his personal job to make the next two weeks as painful as possible. Her penmanship got jagged, and steadily worse, the more she hurried. And she would hurry even more when she would hear Grissom sigh, and hear him move to check his watch for the umpteenth time…as if it was her fault he given her mounds of papers to fill out right before they take off! So she couldn't really blame him after she had declared that she was done and handed him the paperwork, then watched when he grimaced at her awful handwriting toward the end of her paperwork. She'd be surprised if she could read it herself. This was _really_ going to be a long two weeks!

"Hey, Meg!" Warrick's voice interrupted her thoughts of Grissom as she realized she had completely zoned out, staring at her notes in her notebook. She jumped slightly, not expecting to be talked to, and she looked up and to her left quickly at him with a welcoming smile. At least he and the other CSI agents were trying to make her feel more comfortable. They all seemed to pick up the slack where Grissom's support went flat.

"Sorry, Warrick." Megan said with a slight stretch of her arms. "Just spacing." She closed her notebook and gave him her full attention. "What's up?"

"It's cool." Warrick replied. "We're just about there, so I thought that I'd give you a couple of pointers once we enter the crime scene."

Megan smiled at him, and turned in her seat slightly to face him better, adjusting the seat belt that was digging into her neck. "I'm all ears."

Warrick nodded at her complete attention, and took on a serious face. "First," He started. "Have you ever been to a crime scene before? Ever been stopped because of an accident on the highway? Ever happened to walk down a street and have a random stranger yell for you to call 911 because there's been an accident of some sort?" He looked at her intensely, waiting for her to answer.

Megan shrugged slightly, a little overwhelmed by all of that. "Not really…I grew up in a small town. I didn't move to Los Angeles until a few years ago…and even then I kept myself pretty sheltered…as much as you can in a city like LA, anyway."

Warrick nodded accepting that, but his intense gaze never left hers. "Have you ever seen a DB before?"

Before Megan could answer, Nick poked his head around the side of his seat, maneuvering around the constraining seat belt, and offering Megan his prized smile. "He means a dead body." He said, as if Megan knew absolutely nothing about nothing.

Warrick's gaze left Megan's to get to Nick's, where he rolled them and shook his head. "I'm sure that she knew what I meant, Nick." Warrick said in a 'duh' kind of voice. Nick shrugged, not taking offence (_Did he ever take offence to anything? _Megan wondered.) Warrick then turned a little uncertainly toward Megan again. "You knew what I meant…didn't you?" Megan wasn't sure what to say. Of course she knew what it meant, but she didn't want to hurt Warrick or Nick's feelings by siding with either one of them. Before she could answer Warrick spoke up again. "If you ever have any questions about anything we're doing, don't be afraid to ask…that's what we're here for." He said assuringly.

Megan tried to think quickly, as she glanced back and forth between the two agents. She tried to live by two rules in her life: 1) If someone is yelling at you and nothing you say seems to pacify them, nod and agree with what they say, and they'll eventually go away. 2) Voicing your opinion when you first meet people can damage later friendships down the road…it kind of tied into those first impression things. The seconds were ticking by as both Warrick and Nick looked at her, waiting for her to reply. "Uh…maybe?" She asked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Grissom's gaze shift from the road to her direction, and back to the road, as he was driving. That was the biggest move that he'd made to even acknowledge she was sitting in the back seat.

Nick laughed out loud when he heard this and looked toward Warrick. "In other words, she doesn't want to take sides."

Warrick also chuckled, while Megan shrugged and smiled a bit nervously. Were all CSI investigator's this perceptive? "It's alright, Meg. I don't blame you. But getting back to the question, have you ever seen one…a dead body that is." He clarified.

Megan shook her head. "Only on TV and in the movies." She paused, and then smiled recalling an early movie-making memory. "One time, some friends and I were working on this really short, hokey movie, about kid zombies, right? I think the title was, _When Kids Grow Down…Like Six Feet Under_…we came up with some of the worst make up for the dead bodies for that flick…" She laughed. "And the acting was even worse." She shrugged. "You do what you can with a Mini DV camera, and $20 for a production budget." She winked at them good humouredly. Nick and Warrick nodded and chuckled a bit at her shared memory, recalling past times (growing up) the fun they'd had with their friends in high school and college.

There was a second of silence before Grissom finally spoke for the first time in the car. "TV is different then real life." He said, and glanced back at her. "Don't be surprised if the corpses here _stay_ dead." Then he was silent, having added his two cents, definitely making the mood somber once again.

After a moment, Nick grimaced at Megan…the reality of where they were going coming back. "This will be pretty rough on you, then. A triple on your first day? That's rough." He nodded at her sympathetically, before fighting with his seat belt to turn back around in his seat, as Grissom was slowing the car down, parking behind the yellow tape, and next to the black and white police cars.

Grissom pulled the car to a stop, and turned off the engine. Without saying a word, or even a glance at Megan or anyone else, he was out of the Tahoe, crime kit, and flashlight in hand, and headed toward the crime scene. Megan closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she hoped she was ready for this. She glanced up as Warrick leaned over and gently patted her on the shoulder, concern evident in his eyes. "Breathe through your mouth, and if you can't handle the blood, get away fast…trust me, vomit happens a lot faster then most people think." He gave her one final pat on her shoulder, before he exited his side of the Tahoe, and followed Grissom.

Megan nodded to herself a little uncertainly; she set her notebook on her seat next to her, as she planned on writing down notes on the trip back, but focusing her attention on what was around her while on the scene. She took a couple of deep breaths, and slowly opened her door. Nick had been kind enough to wait for her as she composed herself. He gave her a smile, once again he seemed to exude confidence that she soaked up just being near him. He gave her a little nod and started after Warrick, who was pretty far ahead of them at this point, Grissom even further ahead. Megan followed closely behind Nick, staring at the FORESNICS emblem on his jacket. _Mind over matter_ she reminded herself.

The three agents, used to these kinds of procedures, got right to business. Grissom led the way. He collected information from Brass as he walked toward the first body. Warrick followed closely behind his supervisor, his eyes trained all around him, not apt to miss anything. Nick was about fifteen feet behind Warrick. He took out his camera and readied it to begin processing the scene.

Megan wasn't sure she was ready to get a close look of a body up close, yet. Though she was curious if they did look like they did in the movies. But then again, she'd seen enough horror movies, she half expected a body to go all zombie-like, and start attacking people…like her movie she'd remembered on the way here. Then Grissom's somber words came back to her, and she sighed to herself, and got a grip.

Finally her pace slowed, and her curiosity got the better of her, she turned and looked toward her left at one of the dead bodies she had only seen out of the corner of her eye…and she froze. He was so young! He was African-American, and couldn't have been more then twenty, very good looking…at least he would have been when he was alive. He was lying in a pool of his own blood, obviously coming from the gunshot wound from his stomach. Megan didn't feel scared or sick at first, seen the young man there…she felt sad. Who was he? Whose family did he belong to? Who could have done such a thing?

In her absorbance of the body near her feet, Megan didn't realize that the CSI agents were all further away, examining the first body in the row (the one she was looking at was the last one in a semi-line), they were taking notes. Nick was taking pictures, and all three of them were being very thorough.

Megan glanced up to ask Nick a question about something she'd noticed on the young man, not having realized how far away he was…or how very alone she was in her little spot. There were a ton of police officers, coroners, and crowd members behind the yellow tape…but she felt very isolated where she was standing…and that's when it happened. Everything seemed to dull in noise, except for one sound, and all movement seemed to slow considerably. She heard the crackle of a police radio, and then she saw a burly policeman move to answer the call at his car. The only problem was…that Megan stood in between him and his car. The policeman didn't seem to notice, he was so intent on his radio he just barreled forward. He was obviously expecting some sort of call…or he was short on help for his shift…either way he paid her no heed. Megan saw him as he came (seemingly) straight toward her, and she turned to try and get out of the big man's way, but she wasn't fast enough as he bumped into her rather harshly anyway, eyes on his radio. She didn't see him turn and glance back to make sure she was alright, and as soon as he saw that she was, he continued forward, got in his car, answered the call and left.

Megan's momentum was thrown off, and she stumbled toward her left. Sound and motion seemed to become normal again as she regained her footing. She looked over her shoulder and glared at the retreating form of the police car, off to another assignment. She was usually pretty easy-going. But one thing that Megan couldn't abide by was rudeness. A person had to take 10 times the energy to be rude then to be nice. So what was the point?

She shook her head, and decided to blow it off. You can't change some people. Megan started to brush her shirt off, as if imaginary dust covered it. She straightened her t-shirt out, when her eyes happened to glance down and see exactly where her foot had landed. The world crashed down around her, when she realized that her left sneakered shoe was standing _directly_ in the middle of the pool of blood that she had looked at only a few minutes earlier. Suddenly she couldn't breath. If she didn't feel sick before, she did now.

Her foot was about two inches away from the dead man's face…and while that should have freaked her out the most, she was more afraid of what Grissom would do to her. He had said that he didn't want her along because she would contaminate his crime scene, and she had blown it off, assured that she wouldn't come close enough to damage any evidence…now look where her foot was. She was getting light headed. What should she do? Should she call out? Step out? Draw attention? She would rather be _anywhere_ then to get Grissom's attention right now.

Megan took a deep breath, her eyes started to tear up. Grissom was going to kill her! She slowly lifted her left foot out of the blood, now about puking as she watched the blood drip from her shoe, to get absorbed back into the large pool that came from the body. She stood there for a second, foot about three inches of the ground, while she contemplated her options. She wondered if anybody would notice if she just dropped off the face of the earth. Then she heard someone yell out to her.

"That shoe is _evidence_; _do not_ set it back down!" Grissom, who noticed everything, had noticed this. It had just so happened that he had glanced up, to see if Megan was handling the scene alright (he had his moments of compassion…they're just buried very deeply), when he saw her standing in that pool of blood, looking down at her foot as if she expected it do something amazing. His anger was boiling over so fast; his usually calm demeanor was fading. He jumped into action. "Nick, Warrick! We have a contaminated crime scene! You know what to do!"

The two level 3 CSI agents jumped into action at their supervisor's bidding. They too had only just noticed that Megan wasn't right behind them…so absorbed in their scene they had been. Nick dashed toward the Tahoe to grab an evidence bag big enough for her shoe, while Warrick ran toward her to help steady her enough so she wouldn't put her foot back down, possibly destroying evidence. A lot of action was happening around her, but Megan could only see Grissom as he slowly stalked his way though the crowd toward her. She could only thank God that he had his sunglasses on, because she would have probably died on the spot if she would have seen him glaring at her right now…she had really messed things up this time.

Luckily Warrick and Nick were there now, and blocked her view of Grissom as they helped her out of where she stood, onto safe ground. Nick held a large evidence bag, and went to work unlacing Megan's shoe, while Warrick stood behind her, his hands on her arms to balance her, so she wouldn't step down on the bloodied shoe. Nick had her shoe off in a second, and dropped in into the baggie. Not until did he stand up from his squatting position near her foot, did Megan looked down and slowly ventured to put her socked foot down on the dirty Las Vegas pavement. She slowly brought her gaze back up, and would have paid any amount of money to be anywhere else at the moment. Grissom had replaced Nick's spot directly in front of her, and he stood less then a foot away (invading her personal space, and obviously trying to do so). He was void of his sunglasses now, and Megan was getting the full extent of his glare…and boy was he glaring. One thing Grissom never _ever_ wanted tampered with…was his crime scenes.

"I'm sorry." Megan said softly. The full impact of his glare taking effect on her. Her eyes were welling up with unshed tears. _Could this night get any worse?_ She wondered to herself. The only way it could, she decided was if she started crying right now…so she was bound and determined not to do that. No matter how much lip biting it might take…and right now it was taking a lot, as Grissom glared at her like that. She wished she could just get away from all of them right now, she'd go anywhere else.

"You seem to be saying a lot of that lately." Grissom replied, his usual soft voice elevated in his intense agitation. He crept intimidating forward, to which Megan immediately backed up. He was less then a foot in front of her as it was, how much closer did he have to be to chew her out? As Megan backed up, that just caused her to back more into Warrick's chest (as he still stood directly behind her). He was also still holding onto her arms, as if to comfort her in a small way. "You contaminated my crime scene." Grissom said, his voice only a little softer, yet _very_ menacing, and his glare hadn't lessened any at all. "Your job was simple." He continued. "You are here to _observe_ for you _stupid_ movie. You were not to get too close to the bodies in case something like _this_ was to happen!"

"I'm sorry." Megan stammered, unable to look away from his intense gaze. How did he always manage to snare people with his looks? She just wanted to look away, yet she couldn't. She just stood there, and looked up at his angry face. She knew that if she tried to tell her side of the story (of the police man that had shoved her out of his way) that her voice would break, and she wouldn't be able to make it through the whole story without crying.

"Grissom." Nick said quietly on Grissom's right side, facing Megan. He turned to face his supervisor. "Not here, not now." Grissom acknowledged Nick's words by lifting his head and having a look around at everyone on the scene staring at them.

Grissom nodded, and brought his gaze back to Megan's. "I can't deal with this right now." He turned to go, then turned back. "But this is not finished." He put his shades back on, turned on his heel, and walked away. He glanced at Nick as he walked away. "Take her to the Tahoe, and tell her to stay put."

Nick nodded, and turned back to Megan. His heart about broke when he saw the tears that were so close to spilling over on her face. "Come on, Men. Let's chill for a sec, okay?" He gave her a comforting smile, and put a hand on her shoulder to lead her to the Tahoe. She didn't argue. Warrick sent her a sympathetic look (that she didn't see) then turned to follow Grissom. "Are you alright?" Nick asked Megan as he opened the door for her, and watched her enter, hands ready to catch her in case she didn't make it, and might need a hand up. She nodded, but wouldn't look at him. He wasn't sure what he could say to make her feel better, so he gave her a smile, not a sympathetic one, but his charming one. "When we get back to HQ, I'll tell you about how bad I mucked up one of my first cases." He saw her glance up at him, and he winked. "Trust me, this is nothing!" He smiled at her, gave her a pat on the shoulder, then went back to finish up his job.

Back at HQ…

Megan barely waited for the Tahoe to stop before she was out the door, and back in the crime lab. She barely flashed the receptionist her VISITOR'S badge before she flew inside. Her one thought was to be alone for a few minutes, and get away from Grissom. There was one place that she could do that. She veered off to the first ladies room she came across, and closed the door behind her. She searched for a lock, and was dismayed when she couldn't find one.

Only after she made sure that she was alone in the bathroom, did she lean against a corner of the room, near a sink, and cry. It wasn't a wailing, loud cry. It was a quiet, tension relieving cry. After only a few minutes, she felt so much better, and her eyes dried up. She bent over a sink and splashed cold water on her face. _So I messed up a crime scene. It happens. It wasn't my fault…it was that dumb police officer's!_ She thought to her reflection.

She looked up, startled, as two women entered the restroom. She hadn't expected anyone else to disturb her little sanctuary. Megan recognized Catherine, but she wasn't sure who the other woman was that was with her. Maybe it was…Sara? Didn't Grissom say something about a Sara?

"Hey Megan." Catherine said warmly, with a ready smile. "How was your first crime scene observation?"

Megan glanced down at her shoeless foot. "Don't ask." She mumbled.

Sara took a step forward, hand extended. "Sara Sidle. You must be Megan, the movie director, right?"

Megan gave Sara a half ghost of a smile. "Assistant, yeah."

"So…what happened to your shoe?" Catherine asked with a slight tilt of her head to the side…much the same way Grissom did all the time.

Megan shrugged, she didn't want to look the older woman in the eye. "It got contaminated."

Sara took a slight step closer, and put a finger under Megan's chin to tilt her head upward to meet their gazes. "Have you been crying?" She asked sympathetically.

Megan didn't know how much more sympathy she could take. "It's been a rough day." She replied with a shrug, and dabbed at the corner of her right eye with her pinkie finger.

Catherine was instantly serious as she looked Megan over. "What happened?" She asked and crossed her fingers in front of her. She knew that Grissom hadn't wanted this woman to come here, but he had accepted and had been paid. He had no right or reason to treat her with anything other then respect. And she would not be afraid to take it up with him.

"Does this have anything to do with your missing shoe?" Sara asked, as she looked down at Megan's shoeless left foot.

"That's part of it." Megan replied, and curled her toes into the linoleum of the tiled floor. "But not the beginning part."

"Do tell." Catherine replied.

Sara nodded and leaned against one of the sinks. "We've got time."

Megan sized the two of them up for a moment and decided that she could trust them; then she began to tell her story of how really, truly bad her day had gone thus far. She started with her talk to the movie producer, Mac, the 4 ½ hour drive here, being early to make a good impression with Grissom. Then about the receptionist who had detained her to get the photo ID, which caused her to be 20 minutes late with Grissom. She followed with his un-welcoming attitude once she did get there, angry because she had been late, but not listening that no one had told her about the badge. How Grissom definitely didn't want her there period, the paperwork fiasco (which was new to Sara), and ultimately the crime scene. How the police officer had shoved her into the pool of blood, and how they had taken her show as evidence…which brought her to now.

Megan paused when she had finished, and tried to gage the two women's reactions. They seemed to handle this like they would if they were to interview a witness. They never interrupted her, and when she paused, they'd ask her questions. Even when it felt as if she was babbling, they would urge her to continue. And now that she was done talking, they just stared at her.

"Wow!" Sara said first, in disbelief. "This was all on your first day?!" She gaped at Megan as she nodded.

"Did you tell Grissom about the police officer that shoved you?" Asked Catherine, anger evident in her voice as to how Grissom had been treating Megan.

Megan shook her head, and wouldn't meet Catherine's intense gaze. "If it wasn't for Nick, he'd probably still be standing out there yelling at me for messing up his crime scene."

Sara shook her head and looked down at Megan's foot. "I can't believe he didn't even get you a new pair of shoes."

"This is not going to work." Catherine said. She was very angry. Megan was a bit confused as to why she was so angry…after all Catherine didn't know her at all. She'd only spent a couple of minutes with her. But Megan didn't have time to think as Catherine reached over and grabbed Megan's wrist. She pulled her out of the bathroom, Sara followed close behind. "We're going to head right into his office, and get this straightened out."

At this, Megan dug her heels, she half slid on her one socked foot. "Catherine, I really don't walk to talk to him right now. I don't want to get yelled at anymore today!" She tried to get her arm back, but Catherine was very strong, which surprised Megan because…she was so little!

"Don't worry." Catherine said as she skid to a halt next to a big glass wall. Inside Megan could see someone that looked to be about her age inside, with massively spiked hair, wearing a lab coat. She watched, amused, as he head banged to music. Catherine turned to look at Megan. "You won't."

Sara smiled at Catherine, then at Megan. "We will."

Megan couldn't believe that they were going to such lengths to help her out. They didn't even know her, yet they acted as if they'd known her for years. "Thank you guys." She said softly.

The two women just nodded and smiled at her, and led the way into Greg Sander's lab. They were instantly bombarded with loud rock music that overwhelmed them instantly. "Greg!" Sara yelled loudly. Greg didn't even notice them as he did his own special dance to his music.

"_Greg_!" Both Sara and Catherine yelled loudly, and they finally gained the lab tech's attention. He gave them all a guilty smile, and stopped his CD of rock music. "Hey guys, what's up? He asked with a huge grin. "To what do I owe the honor of your esteemed presence?" Then he noticed Megan. She stood toward the side, half behind Sara. He turned and gave her a Greg-award-winning smile. "And you brought a friend." He stepped toward Megan. "Greg Sanders." He smiled, and held out his hand toward her, then he glanced down at her foot and looked back up at her. "Why are you only wearing one shoe?"

Megan smiled and shook his hand. "Megan Athol…and…it's a long story."

Before Greg could start an endless stream of questions, Sara jumped in. "We need you to show Megan some cool Lab Technical things. She'll be shadowing us for two weeks. We need to talk to Grissom." They turned to walk out, not waiting for Greg to respond. They opened the door, Sara first, then Catherine.

Catherine paused at the door, and looked over her shoulder at the two of them. "And Greg? Behave."

Greg opened his mouth to respond with a quirky comment, but the door closed on him before he could. He turned to Megan and shrugged. "They know they love me." He winked at Megan, and smiled. "So…two weeks, huh? You must be that movie director that everyone has been talking about."

Megan smiled, getting really tired of adding… "Assistant director, yeah, that's me."

Greg nodded. "Very cool! And hey, if you need a technical advisor for your movie, my door is always open…except for when I play my rock music, and Grissom makes me close it."

Megan smiled, turned her head, and looked at all of the machines in his lab. "This place is pretty sweet." Her gaze stopped roaming when she met his eyes again. "You must be really smart!"

Greg shrugged, but puffed out his chest proudly. "I can hold my own, alright. But nothing compared to Grissom. He's the Top Dog around here."

Megan ignored that, and started to examine some of the machines. Greg could tell she was ready for a change of conversation, so he gave her the tour of his lab. He explained everything that each machine did, and answered all of her questions, in terms she could understand…not like some doctors who speak in lingo that only other doctors can understand. Megan was very impressed with everything.

"I wanted to be a scientist when I was a kid." Megan said as they pulled up swivel chairs together after the ground tour. Greg even shared some of his prized coffee with her as they sat there, just talking.

"So what happened?" Greg asked, as he took a sip of his coffee, then set his cup down on one of his file organizers. "Why aren't you?"

Megan laughed. "Math and Science were my worst subjects! I'd be stretching it if I could pull a job handing a scientist his coffee cup, and that mean's they'd actually have to let me near their equipment!" Greg laughed and shook his head. "So I went into the movie business instead."

"That's sweet." Greg replied, and there was a moment of awkward silence. "Hey…have you ever seen your blood under a microscope before?" Megan shook her head. "Well then," Greg said as spread his arms out wide. "Miss Megan Athol, be prepared to see, first hand, Greg Sanders in action!" Megan couldn't help but laugh. This guy was so cool in his own way. He was just so much fun to be around!

Megan watched as he rolled over to a drawer, opened it up, and extracted a small hand-held device. She started to watch him warily as he swiveled back toward her. "Okay…" She said a bit nervously, and kept her eyes on the small object in his hand.

Greg noticed her reluctance and stopped. "Check it out, Megan. No reason to freak." He smiled warmly at her. "What I am going to do is to poke your hand with this, only a little prick…right between your thumb and pointer finger…and it will get a drop of blood so that we can examine it under the microscope. It's like what diabetic patients use to check their blood sugar." Megan still looked at him warily as he unwrapped a piece of plastic and placed it in the mechanism. He smiled at her. "Check it out, I'll do it to myself first."

She watched as he poked his finger without as much as a grimace. Then he looked up at her. "See, that's about all there is to it." He extracted the plastic piece with the blood on it, and put the little piece on a slide and under the microscope. "Now we can get yours, and compare the two." He swiveled up to her, and talked as he worked. He unwrapped another plastic piece and popped it into the mechanism. "See this is a main part of my job. I compare DNA samples from possible suspects to either rule them in or out in being in contact with a victim or crime scene." He spread her hand out, and moved the device over the skin between her pointer finger and her thumb. "This wont hurt a bit." Greg said, and true to his word, Megan only felt the slightest of 'pricks' when he got her blood sample. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Greg asked her with a wink and a smirk. He handed her, her hand back, extracted her plastic card with the drop of blood on it, placed it on a slide, and then put it under the microscope, under the comparison side. He stood from his swivel chair, and put his eyes to the eye pieces, and adjusted the light and focus of the two slides.

Megan watched him in admiration. He was really good at his job. Then he seemed to pause, and hesitate. Megan thought back, and couldn't remember if her blood had ever been looked at under a microscope. She'd always been pretty healthy…what if there was something seriously wrong with her blood, and Greg just now, uncovered it? Her heart started to thud harder in her chest. Greg seemed to confirm her thoughts as his next words were, "Oh…okay…I've never seen that before."

Megan jumped to her feet in a flurry, her one shoeless foot slid on the slick floor, the other gained her footing so she didn't crash into Greg. "What? What is it?"

Greg was quiet as he continued to play with the dials on the scope, and look through the eye pieces. "Um…it's nothing." He looked up and smiled at her, though his smile appeared slightly strained. "Nothing's wrong."

"You're just saying that, aren't you?" Megan asked, her heart beat still going rapidly.

"No…" Greg said slowly, and mechanically. "Nothing's wrong." He stepped away from the 'scope and motioned her toward it. "See…for yourself."

Megan looked at him warily, not sure she wanted to now. He seemed a little distanced since he looked through the 'scope…he had to have seen something wrong! If anybody was to see anything, she could tell that it would be this guy. If Megan would have had the practiced skills of any of the CSI's that resided in the building, she would have noticed that Greg was trying insanely hard to hide a smile that was threatening to blow his cover. But she didn't have those observational skills when she was freaked out. She slowly stepped past him, not sure what to think of his expression. But when she looked through the scope, she obviously didn't see what he did.

"Mine is on the left, and yours is on the right." Greg said helpfully from directly over her right shoulder.

Megan stared at the two separate drops of blood. It was really interesting to see the inner workings of a drop of blood. She could see the red blood cells in both of them, and other then a few tiny color changes in certain spots, she could not figure out what he had seen. "I don't see it." She said, and lifted her eyes from the 'scope to meet his…_right_ next to her. _What was with these guys and the invasion of personal space_, she wondered to herself.

Greg squinted at her, and tilted his head to the side…a trait he must have gotten from Grissom. "You don't see two drops of blood, and tiny blood cells inside?"

"Well, yeah." Megan said, and bent to look into the eyepiece again. "But I don't see what's wrong. Other then slight discoloration in certain spots…they look the same." She looked up at him again, and straightened her back. "What's wrong? You can tell me."

Greg laughed now, losing his somber expression. "There's nothing wrong!" He assured her. "I told you that…I was just trying to see how easily it was to freak you out…and obviously it worked." He smiled smugly at her.

"You jerk!" Megan said playfully, and slapped him on the shoulder…not lightly.

"Ow!" Greg yelped and grabbed his shoulder. He gaped at her.

"You led me to believe something was wrong!" Megan raised an eyebrow up at him in challenge.

Greg smiled a dazzling smile back at her. "It was a joke." He said, and protected his "injured" arm, in case she decided to hit him again. "I had to throw you into the water, and see if you could laugh…or something like that." He grinned, shrugged at her, and patted her on the shoulder. "You passed with flying colors in case you wanted to know." Megan opened her mouth to reply, but Greg kept talking. "Now, would you like to learn what type of blood you are?" Megan paused, then nodded. "Cool." Greg replied, and he leaned back down to look into the scope. He talked as he looked at the two samples of blood. "Ah…you have a very rare blood type." He grinned and stood up to look at her. "Like me, you are AB. Of which only 4 of Americans are. You should be proud."

"How can you tell?" Megan asked.

Greg put a hand on her shoulder to lead her to the scope, to look into the eyepieces. "You can see your red blood cells, those are of course, the little circular red things. That substance surrounding it is called plasma. Although I haven't done a deep analysis of your blood, it compares remarkably similar to mine, in that the plasma doesn't contain any antibodies against either A or B blood…thus making you part of the lucky 4."

When Megan stood up, she about laughed out loud when she saw Greg. He stood in the middle of the room in a struck pose, as if he waited for applause. She humored him and clapped loudly.

"Thank you!" Greg replied with a flourished bow. "Thank you very much!"

And this was how Grissom found them when he walked into Greg's lab a second later. Actually he had stood in the hall for a few minutes, and observed the two of them, while he thought about what Catherine and Sara had told him. Those two were definitely not afraid to stand up to him, and they had taken it upon themselves to stand up for Megan, who _was_ afraid to stand up to him…or afraid of him in general…either way. He watched how attentive Megan had been when Greg had showed her something, and how relaxed and at ease she seemed with him. He cleared his throat loudly to gain their attention. "I hope that I'm not interrupting anything?" He asked, and stepped further into the room. Megan's applause stopped instantly, and Greg stopped in mid-bow.

Greg turned his head from his bowed position and gave Grissom a huge grin, and stood up. "Griss-man!" He stopped at Grissom's tilt of his head. "Grissom." Greg said with a ready smile, and a quick nod to the supervisor. "I was just showing our film protégée here, the intricacies of her own blood."

Grissom's gaze went from Greg to Megan. Megan had looked toward Grissom when he had first entered and when he had talked to Greg, but her gaze immediately went to Greg's microscope when Grissom looked toward her. "Very good, Greg." He said with a quick glance toward him. Grissom looked back toward Megan. "We need to talk." He said in his usual quiet voice. He didn't seem angry anymore…but Megan wondered if it was just a cover. He nodded toward her, and turned to walk out, as if that was all he would say for now.

Megan's stomach dropped to her feet…she really did not like one-on-one confrontations…especially with him! She knew that this one was going to be a doozy. She glanced toward Greg, then moved to follow Grissom. She unintentionally dragged her feet.

"Wait!" Greg called out. He'd seen Megan's forlorn expression. He wanted to put her more at ease with all of them, and he tended to do it in his own unique, Greg-like, way. "Megan?" He asked, and looked intensely into her eyes, very serious right now. "Could you hand me my coffee cup?" He asked with a half smile.

"What?" Both she and Grissom asked at the same time.

Greg ignored Grissom, and smiled at Megan. "Remember what you told me earlier?" He asked.

A light bulb went on in Megan's head. "Oh!" She said, and flashed him a brilliant smile. She glanced around the room, and laughed, tension gone again, for now. She loved this guy! "Where is it?"

Greg pointed behind him toward the filing cabinet he had set it on earlier. So…she would have to walk past him, grab the cup, and pass him again to get to the door. She grinned broadly at him and started to walk toward the cup.

"Greg, do we really have time for this?" Grissom asked impatiently. "Get your own cup."

Greg glanced at Grissom, then turned toward his right at Megan approached with his coffee cup. "Thank you very much." He replied with a wink. And he whispered, "Keep your chin up." He gave her a pat on the shoulder as she nodded and smiled at him on her way toward Grissom. (Confused? Go back to where Megan told Greg about being a scientist…he remembered. ;))

Megan walked behind Grissom with a new confidence that Greg had given her. Maybe these two weeks wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Well, that's the end of Chapter 2, whoever reads it, hope you like it. Hope you liked it RK9!! You rock so much for the review, thanks so much!! And don't worry about Grissom…slowly but surely he'll come around! 


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